Method and system for delivering messages to both live recipients and recording systems

ABSTRACT

Method and system for delivering a message over a telecommunications network to a recipient comprising transmitting a message over the telecommunications network to the recipient when a predetermined energy/silence condition is detected, performing echo cancellation on a signal communicated from the telecommunications network, and monitoring the signal to detect the energy/silence condition.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/001,204, filed Dec.30, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,319.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of voicetelecommunication, and more specifically to the field of deliveringmessages to live recipients and recording devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Due to the ubiquity of telephone answering devices, such as answeringmachines, voice-mail systems, etc., few telephone calls go unanswered.Thus, due to this increase in telephone connectivity, the importance ofreliably and efficiently communicating messages to live recipients, aswell as recording devices, is great. Although the ability of a livecaller to distinguish whether a live person or a recording device isanswering a telephone call is often straight-forward, such distinctionis more difficult when delivering pre-recorded messages.

Currently, systems are available where pre-recorded messages aredelivered in the same predetermined manner to live recipients orrecording devices. In a typical scenario, a telephone call is placed,and as soon as the call is answered, and a signal is received by therecipient (known as answer supervision), the pre-recorded message isplayed. Often these systems are instructed to play the message up tothree times to ensure that the entire message is received. If themessage is received by a recording device, the recordation of themessage will begin at whatever point the message is at when the devicegoes into its recording mode. Thus, upon playing the incoming message,recipients often hear a message starting at the middle of thepre-recorded statement, and then the entire message one or two timesthereafter.

A significant disadvantage of current message delivery systems is thetechnical compromise between facilitating quick delivery to liveparties, against ensuring that the message is not delivered to theanswering device until it is ready to record. The delivery systems forpre-recorded messages, that are currently available, are not capable ofadapting their delivery to the environment created by the recipient. Itis therefore desirable to improve the delivery of pre-recorded messagessuch that an entire message may be delivered from beginning to end in asingle transmission, and where the responsiveness of the delivery to alive recipient and a recording device are equally reliable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to maximizeresponsiveness in delivering a pre-recorded message to either a liveperson or recording device. This advantage is accomplished by monitoringthe environment of a recipient of the pre-recorded message for aninitial predetermined silence/energy condition and begin messagedelivery when that condition is met. After message delivery has begun,the energy/silence condition may be continuously monitored, and messagedelivery ceased upon sensing a predetermined level of noise or speechenergy. Moreover, in another aspect of the present invention, the methodincludes recommencing the transmission of the pre-recorded message fromthe beginning upon subsequent detection of the desired silence/energycondition.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the method furtherincludes monitoring the environment of a recipient for a predeterminedinitiating energy condition, and enabling the message delivery system tocommunicate such message immediately after sensing such initiatingenergy condition.

Accordingly, the responsiveness of the present method and system isoptimized regardless of the environment created by the recipient of thetelephone network. This is effectuated by establishing continuouscommunication between a silence detector, an echo canceller and amessage player. Message delivery ceases when a predetermined level ofspeech or noise from the recipient is detected, and such deliveryrecommences upon sensing the predetermined energy/silence condition. Asa result, the entire pre-recorded message is delivered to the recipient.

It is another advantage of the present invention to facilitate thetransmission of a predetermined number of messages, each in itsentirety, to a live recipient or recording device. This advantage isaccomplished by establishing communication between a silence detector,an echo canceller and a message player, which allows pre-recordedmessages to be delivered from one to a predetermined number of times,and where such delivery is recommenced whenever a noise or speech energysignal interrupts the delivery of the pre-recorded message.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art after review of the detaileddescription, figures and claims of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a message delivery system according toan aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an echo cancellation system.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method to deliver messages according to anaspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a message delivery system 1 in accordance with apreferred embodiment of the present invention in which recipients 42(either live or recording devices) receive messages that arepre-recorded and stored in message audio database 12 of message deliverysystem 1. A message list database 14 may also be employed to store thetelephone number or telephone numbers of one to a plurality ofprospective recipients.

Service controller 10 is employed in delivery system 1 to coordinate thedelivery of the predetermined, pre-recorded message to the appropriaterecipient 42. Service controller 10 also communicates the telephonenumber stored in the message list database 14 of the intended recipient42 via data link 16. Data link 16 is a communication medium that permitsdelivery of the message and database data to message delivery module 20of delivery system 1.

Upon receiving message delivery data from service controller 10 via datalink 16, telephony dialer 18 a dials the telephone number of intendedrecipient 42. A signal is delivered to and from message delivery module20 via communication medium 28 which interconnects message deliverymodule 20 and a telecommunications network, such as a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) 40. Communication medium 28 may be, forexample, a four wire system with outbound communication medium 28 a andinbound communication medium 28 b. Communication medium 28 interconnectsthe various components of message delivery module 20, such as telephonyinterface control 18 (comprising of dialer 18 a and message player 18b), echo canceller 32, silence detector 34 and call classifier 36 to thePSTN 40. It should be noted that message delivery system 1 may employone to a plurality of message delivery modules 20.

Upon dialing the call, message delivery system 1 classifies the calloutcome (i.e., busy, no answer, intercept, etc.) via call classifier 36.If answer supervision is not received, service controller 10 caninstruct message delivery system 1 to either retry the call or terminatedelivery. If, however, system 1 gets answer supervision, a detector,such as a silence detector 34 is activated. Detector 34 mayalternatively comprise other types of energy, noise or speech detectors.Detector 34 monitors whether there is noise or silence on inboundcommunication medium 28 b which is being generated by recipient 42 overthe PSTN 40. Detector 34 may be devised to detect an initiating silenceor energy condition of a predetermined threshold (i.e., duration ofsilence, magnitude of energy, combination of speech and silencecondition, etc.). In the preferred embodiment, echo canceller 32 isinterconnected between detector 34 and the PSTN 40 to reliably monitorenergy generated by recipient 42 over the PSTN 40.

A typical echo canceller 32 is illustrated in FIG. 2. Echo canceller 32uses the signal processed over outbound communication medium 28 agenerated by message player 18 b to generate a replica signal 28 c viaecho generator 56. The replica signal 28 c and the echo signal 28 dwhich is transmitted by inbound communication medium 28 b is transmittedthrough subtractor 58 of echo canceller 32. Echo canceller 32 cancelsout the echo created over signals transmitted through outboundcommunication medium 28 a.

Returning to FIG. 1, once detector 34 senses a predetermined initiatingenergy/silence condition over inbound communication medium 28 b, messageplayer 18 b is instructed to immediately deliver the predetermined,pre-recorded message. In accordance with the preferred embodiment ofthis invention, the predetermined initiating energy/silence conditionwill likely comprise speech energy followed by a predetermined silencecondition, indicating that message delivery system 1 has connected to arecipient, and that the recipient is ready to receive the pre-recordedmessage. Of course, message delivery system 1 may be devised so thatmessage player 18 b begins delivery of a pre-recorded message when oneof a variety of predetermined energy/silence conditions is detected bydetector 34. Message player 18 b will cease delivery of the message upondetection of speech or some other type of energy communicated throughinbound communication medium 28 b. Delivery of the pre-recorded messageis once again immediately begun upon the detection of a predeterminedenergy/silence condition by detector 34.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a block flow chart of apreferred method of using message delivery system 1 illustrated in FIG.1. In step 160, service controller 10 provides the necessary data (i.e.,telephone number and pre-recorded message) to initiate message deliverysystem 1 in FIG. 1. The pre-recorded message is transmitted to messageplayer 18 b, while the desired telephone number is transmitted to dialer18 a, as instructed in step 162.

Step 164 then classifies the telephone call. As shown in step 166, ifanswer supervision is not received, the system returns to step 160 torecommence the process. If, however, answer supervision is received, thesignal communicated over inbound communication medium 28 b is monitored,in step 168, by detector 34.

As shown in step 170, if a predetermined initiating energy/silencecondition is detected, the pre-recorded message is delivered torecipient 42, as shown in step 172. If a predetermined energy/silencecondition is not met (i.e., speech or noise continues without sufficientsilence), message delivery system 1, in FIG. 1, continues to monitor thesignal over inbound communication medium 28 a for a predeterminedinitiating energy/silence condition, as illustrated in step 168. Messagedelivery system 1 continues to monitor the inbound communication medium28 a (step 168) until a predetermined energy/silence condition isdetected.

In step 174, echo cancellation is performed as soon as message deliverybegins, thereby allowing only the energy generated by recipient 42 ofthe PSTN 40 to be monitored by detector 34. As shown in step 176,message delivery system 1 continues to monitor for energy, and isemployed for a predetermined time (i.e., a number of seconds, theduration of delivery of the pre-recorded message, etc.). If the silencecondition is continuously detected by silence detector 34, the entirepre-recorded message is delivered to recipient 42 by message player 18 bas shown in step 178. If energy of a predetermined threshold is detectedin step 176 (i.e., no silence detected) prior to the delivery of apredetermined portion of the message, then message delivery system 1stops delivery of the message and continues to monitor the inboundcommunication medium 28 a (step 168) until the predeterminedenergy/silence condition is detected. Once such energy/silence conditionis detected (step 170), the pre-recorded message is played from itsbeginning (step 172). However, if energy is detected in step 176 after apredetermined portion of the message is delivered, message deliverysystem 1 may, in one aspect of the invention, record and store theenergy that is detected, and continue delivery of the undeliveredportion of the pre-recorded message upon detection of the predeterminedenergy/silence condition. Moreover, the method may be devised such thatif a brief period of energy is detected, system 1 pauses during theperiod of energy detection, and subsequently recommences when thepredetermined silence condition resumes. Upon delivery of the entiremessage or a predetermined portion of the message, the system isdisconnected from the PSTN 40, as illustrated in step 180.

The foregoing is to be understood as being in every respect illustrativeand exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scope of the inventiondisclosed herein is not to be determined from the Detailed Description,but rather from the claims as interpreted according to the full breadthpermitted by law. It is to be understood that the embodiments shown anddescribed herein are only illustrative of the principles of the presentinvention and that various modifications may be implemented by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention. For example, this description uses a silence detector, butany form of noise detection, energy detection or speech detection may beused. The description also uses live recipients and recording devices,such as voice-mail systems, answering machines, as intended receivers ofthe pre-recorded message, but any means for receiving a pre-recordedmessage is understood to be an equivalent. Further, the description usesa four-wire communication medium, but any signalling system comprisingan inbound signal and outbound signal may be employed. The descriptionof the preferred embodiment also uses a public switch telephone network(PSTN), but any communication network may be used.

We claim:
 1. A system for delivering a message over a communications network to a recipient, comprising: a message player for delivering a message to a recipient over a communications network, wherein the message player waits to deliver the message until a predetermined initiating silence condition is met, initially delivers the message upon detection of a predetermined initiating silence condition and the message player continues to deliver the message while a second silence condition is detected; a detector for monitoring a received signal from the communications network, wherein the detector detects the initial silence condition and the second silence condition and communicates with the message player; and an echo canceller communicating with the detector, message player, and communications network, wherein the echo canceller enables detected of energy transmitted by the recipient over the received signal.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector is a speech detector.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector is an energy detector.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a call classifier for detecting an answer supervision condition, and wherein the detector is activated when answer supervision is detected.
 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a service controller for retrieving a telephone number from a recipient database and transmitting the telephone number to the communication network.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a message database linked to the message player for storing a pre-recorded message for transmission over the communications network.
 7. The system of claim 6, further comprising service controller for retrieving the message from the message database and transmitting the message to the message player.
 8. A method for delivering a message over a communications network to a recipient, the method comprising: using a message player for delivering a message to a recipient: waiting to deliver the message until a predetermined initiating silence condition is met; initially delivering the message upon detection of a predetermined initiating silence condition; and continuing to deliver the message while a second silence condition is detected; using a detector for monitoring a received signal from the communications network: detecting the initial silence condition and the second silence condition; and communicating with the message player, and using an echo canceller communicating with the detector, message player; and communication network; detecting energy transmitted by the recipient over the received signal. 